Truths and Mistruths in Gendered Communication Studies The Oriental Hong Kong Perspective
Catherine Ng's journal article for Women in Management Reviewentitled, "Do women and men communicate differently at work' An empiricalstudy in Hong Kong," discusses and analyzes the gendered communicationphenomenon in the workplace setting. Using the survey research method, Ngexplores the dynamics of communication in the workplace, particularlybetween male and female members of a business organization. Questionnairesare designed to illustrate and reflect specific aspects of genderedcommunication, which are enumerated as follows: (1) communication styles atwork with the same sex (same-sex communication); (2) communication styleswith the sex of the other party (mixed-sex communication); (3) the natureor topic of discussion (personal or business-related); and communication
Theseresults from Ng's study reflect how, indeed, gendered communication doesexist within the workplace setting. " Thisproves that regardless of the sex of the communicators, that is, whetherthe interaction is between same- or mixed-sex, the encouragingcommunication style is the same for both males and females. ator vis-A -vis his/her co-worker, subordinate, or anoutsider to the organization (power relations). Ng's first hypothesis showed that "there was no significant differencebetween male and female respondents' preferred communication styles. až˘ Hypothesis II: A person's preferred communication style varies with the status of the interlocutor. až˘ Hypothesis IV: When the topic of conversation at work is personal, communication style is more encouraging than when the conversation is business-related. Status rolesin the workplace, the research shows, have a significant influence in thecommunication style of people. až˘ Hypothesis III: Men/Women are more encouraging when communicating with men/women than with women/men. Lastly, there is a considerableshift from encouraging to discouraging communication styles when there istransition from personal topics to business-related conversations. Using these four aspects as the primary determinants of genderedcommunication styles in the workplace, Ng used a sample of Hong Kongbusiness employees (males and females) to ascertain assumptions formulatedfor the research. In correspondence with the determinants of the study,the researcher also formulated four hypotheses, with each hypothesiscentering on a particular aspect of communication between males andfemales. However, in the case of mixed-sex interaction, womenproved to be more encouraging towards men than women, while men tend to bemore encouraging also to men than women.
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